R.A.C.E SuperSeries
Round: 7 Shannonville Motorsport Park
King Karl Krowned
By Don Empey
SHANNONVILLE ONT, CANADA, Sept 27 & 28 /08

Karl Daigle squeezed out a single point victory over the flying Dominican, Franklin Dominguez, to earn the first of his weekend championship #1 plates in the R.A.C.E. SuperSeries final event of the season. The young Perusse/ Fast Riding School Kawasaki rider did everything right in the final Pro 6 Cycle / Dunlop Tires Superbike feature with a smooth third place finish, earning the requisite 17 points to finish the season one point ahead of race winner, Kawasaki mounted Domingeuz, who had an epic battle with Andrew Nelson aboard the Base Energy Drinks, Armour Bodies Yamaha. As the lead two riders battled up front, Daigle settled into a comfortable pace, refusing to enter the fray and gamble on any miscues that would end his championship run. At the checkered flag, it was a jubilant Dominguez who crossed the finish line first with the hard-charging Nelson hot in pursuit. With the win, Dominguez scores his first win of the season in Canada. Just shy of a podium finish was Marie Jose Boucher who made a brilliant charge up from seventh position to finish in fourth. Also enjoying a great finish was MBP/Sport Collette sponsored Martin Grande who, in his first race as a professional, chased Boucher home to finish in fifth place.
In the Parts Canada Pro 600 event, it was Yamaha mounted Andrew Nelson with the win after a lengthy chase of Karl Daigle who had led most of the race. With the last lap flag poised for a good airing out, Nelson made a late braking move going into Shannonville’s hairpin to take the lead and eventual race win. In third was Martin Grande, enjoying his first Pro 600 outing. Just shy of a podium finish was Excel Honda’s, Marie Josee Boucher. Fifth place went to Jean Paquet who climbed his way up from ninth. With the second place finish, Daigle had earned enough points for the season championship. Daigle commented after the race, “ I had to finish in the top four so I rode a hard race but a smart one. It was difficult with Andrew (Nelson), he’s so very fast on this track. I’m happy to have won both championships but I’m a little sad for Frank Trombino. I really like racing with him and I hope he will be back again next year.”

Amateur Class Champion Jodi Christie again took off in the lead of the Acme Slate Amateur Superbike race and looked to have another race win in hand when a last lap miscue saw the youngster run off track, re-entering the fray in fourteenth. GoLo’s Sean Huffman, after a chasing Christie for the entire event, and swapping positions with eventual third place finisher Efram Ellenbogen several times, then inherited the race win. Second place went to Ellenbogen who was enjoying a banner weekend himself. The final step of the podium went to Bill Sheilds. In fourth was David Nelson, younger brother of Pro rider Andrew. Fifth place went to Broady Gavigan. Joey McRae still managed to retain his second place overall standing, even after missing three races after serious crash at Calabogie early on in the season. McRae remounted his Suzuki for the final event of the season to place a safe sixteenth in the highly competitive class.
In the rider’s Choice Amateur 600 event it was again Jodi Christie with a victory, leaving the rest of the group behind him to battle for the second step of the podium. Battle they did, as Bill Sheilds turned the fastest lap of the race in his dustup with Broady Gavigan. Sheilds eventually grabbed the position on the penultimate lap and held Gavigan off at the line for second. Gavigan ran a great race but had to settle for the final step of the podium. In fourth was Sebastian Tremblay with fifth going to Brian Morrison.
Genevieve Lesieur got a great jump and took off in the early lead in the Pro Honda Oils Women’s Cup final. By the second lap, Marie Josee Boucher made the pass for the lead in the hairpin and led a freight train of riders to the finish line. Lesieur settled in behind her for second place with Vicki Schouten alone in third. The battle of the race was for fourth with Karen Grujic making a return after a brief absence, battling with Vanessa Gareau. Grujic held on at the line for a well earned fourth, while Gareau had the settle for fifth. Expert class champion Boucher took four out of six race wins in the season series. Kana Matsumoto was the series winner in the RACE Women’s Novice division.
BMW mounted Steve “Doc” Walker capped off another brilliant season winning the Race Thunder class championship after a commanding win in the final fracas. Buell rider Dan Thomson also took advantage of a second place finish in the final race to end the season in second place. Dino Paron still managed to end the season in third place, after a rare off-track excursion ended his race early on in the contest.
Certainly one of the most hotly contested championships of the year was the Armour Bodies/Suzuki SV 650 Cup and the Shannonville fans were treated to another great race while John Jarvie and John Savoy enjoyed an epic battle for the championship bragging rights. Jarvie had a great ride, setting a new Shannonville track record and did all he could do but fell just five points shy of knocking Savoy out of the championship hunt. Savoy made an uncharacteristic miscue and ran off the track but managed to regain his stride, finishing the race with seven points and just enough for the SV 650 championship. Brian Kamp finished the race in fifth, enough for a third place overall finish.
Another Shannonville track record fell in the Westlake Medical Centre S&D Heavyweight Sportsman class as Jim Proulx took a hard earned win over Yamaha rider Nick Colley and Ducati mounted Derek Vammus. The win was enough to give Proulx the Pro track record as well as the season title. Colley finished the season in second while Rob Busby pushed his SV Suzuki into third overall.
In Bickle Racing Can-Am 250 G.P. action Matt Cooper set another track record and romped to victory but had to settle for second overall for the season. Eddy Brunet, who finished the race behind Cooper, the USGPRU number one plate holder, finished the season as the class champion. Marc St. Amand took third for the season series.
Red Bulls Rookie Cup invitee, Ben Young got off to a poor start in the race but battled back up into the lead and cemented his championship in the CAN-AM 125 G.P. series. Jodi Christie finished the race in second place just ahead of the season’s second place finisher Tim Harrington. Young also set a new Shannonville Pro Track track record in the process.